Mr Verheugen's role includes trying to improve the EU's reputation in member states - and in an interview with the BBC, he admitted the EU had been making itself unpopular on an issue that did not really matter.

"I organised a huge consultation, and the result was that industry told us there was no problem with the existing system.

"I want to bring to an end a bitter, bitter battle that has lasted for decades and which in my view is completely pointless. We're bringing this battle to an end."

'Extremely misleading'

However, campaigners on both sides of the debate have played down the significance of the announcement.

HAVE YOUR SAY

The metric system is actually much easier to use then the imperial system

John Gardner, director of the pro-imperial British Weights and Measures Association, said: "I've seen the European Commission statement and what they're saying is it will be allowed to use imperial measurements as additional information.

"We think that the European Commission statement is extremely misleading. From our point of view the situation hasn't changed and the campaign goes on.

"If a trader tries to conduct his business in just imperial measurements that will be illegal."

'Business as usual'

The UK Metric Association said the statement does not mean that traders can go back to weighing and pricing in imperial measures, and it will be "business as usual".

Chairman Robin Paice said: "While we regret this proposal to prolong the current muddle of metric and imperial units, it will only delay but not stop the inevitable move toward all-metric shopping.

"Many of the big supermarkets have already stopped giving obsolete imperial prices, and we expect this trend to continue. There is no question of going backwards."

Science and Innovation Minister Ian Pearson said he welcomed the commission's proposal.

"This shows that the commission has listened to our views and recognised the strong arguments that we've made for maintaining dual metric and imperial labelling and the right for the UK to decide on the future use of pints and miles," he said.

"We know how important this is to the British people and are grateful for the commission's support for this use to continue."

The UK first mooted plans to convert to an all-metric system in 1965.

That led to generations of schoolchildren being promised that they would be the last ones who would have to learn two different systems.